This invention relates to food grinding apparatus and in particular to a grinding mill which grinds or cuts material introduced between a pair of grinding discs.
Grain grinders for use in the home have become popular in recent years partly as a result of an increased interest among consumers of home preparation and cooking of food. The grain grinders most often used for this purpose include rotating and stationary grinding stones between which the grain or other material to be ground is introduced. The rotating stone operates to, in effect, crush the material into finer matter.
The grinding stones typically include flutes or tooth-like grinding ridges extending radially from near the center of the stones to the peripheries thereof. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,985,606, 486,003 and 254,814. One of the problems with this prior art structure has been the heat generated by the grinding operation; this heat tends to adversely affect the material being ground. Additionally, there is the problem of the ground material getting clogged in the cutting ridges and this reduces the efficiency of the grinding operation and therefore the speed at which the material can be ground. Further, if the grinding stones are positioned too close together so that the stones touch at any point of their rotation, then material from the stones will be chipped and integrated with the material being ground and of course this is undesirable. Finally, because of the weight of the stones and the need for an adjustment mechanism to adjust the distance between the stones, it is oftentimes difficult to maintain proper centering of the stones with respect to each other and such difficulty leads to more rapid, uneven wear of both the stones and bearings supporting the stones.